World Water Forums

The World Water Forum (WWF) claims to be a democratic, multi-stakeholder platform for governments, civil society, academics and industry on global water issues, but past forums have shown that in fact, they are dominated by a handful of multinational food and water corporations with a strong agenda of privatization and corporate control of water. Forums are held every three years, with the last one held in Marseilles, France in March 2012.

The World Water Forum is organized by the World Water Council – an umbrella organization with more than 300 members, ranging from NGOs and citizens’ groups to financial institutions and public sector representatives. The world’s biggest private water companies, including Suez, Vivendi and RWE Thames play a major role in driving the forum’s agenda. As a result, the World Water Forum has consistently refused to acknowledge or promote water as a human right. The private water companies are more concerned with profiting from a global water crisis than working toward sustainable public solutions.

The Blue Planet Project ­– along with other civil society groups and organizations – attends these forums to provide a voice for the more than 1 billion people around the world who do not have access to clean water. We organize events and activities and speak about the need to view water as a life-giving public resource, not a commodity.